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The bilge management and control system of the present invention consists of a bilge drain assembly in two variations which overcome significant defects and deficiencies in both the prior art and established assembly designs widely employed by boat manufacturers. The basic design of the bilge drain assembly of this invention incorporates a specialized one-piece full port through-transom fitting with a hose barb to male plug adapter and solid threaded plug which thread into the fitting""s pipe opening inside or outside of the bilge.
The prior art of the present invention established communication between a bilge and the exterior of a vessel through its transom using drain assemblies consisting of a garboard drain, a garboard drain and a pipe nipple (Green, U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,471) or a pipe nipple and a threaded cap or flange (DePersia, U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,031). The bilge drain holes of most pleasure craft are equipped with garboard drains, which remain the boating industry""s standard. Garboard drain assemblies are installed in a vessel""s bilge drain hole from the exterior of a vessel""s transom and penetrate the transom only one-half inch of the way into its bilge drain hole. The remainder of the transom""s interior around the bilge drain hole is exposed to substances which collect inside a bilge. These substances leach into the structural materials comprising the transom through the bilge drain hole, saturating and degrading them. It isn""t unusual for the transom of a recreational vessel equipped with a garboard drain assembly to begin to experience degradation, expansion and rot upon exposure. The harmful effect of exposure that garboard drain assemblies cause in transoms from the inside is compounded by the set screws that anchor a garboard drain to the exterior transom wall. Set screws pierce the exterior transom wall where they are threaded in, without adequate precautions taken to seal the punctures they create. Moreover, the repetitive actions of threading the drain plug in to prepare a vessel for launch and unthreading the drain plug to drain the bilge after use, creates torque on the set screws, causing them to shear. Over time, seawater disintegrates the set screws and loosens the garboard drain in the bilge drain hole, allowing seawater to saturate and expand the transom from the exterior as well. For this reason, a bilge drain assembly having a pipe nipple which threads into the back end of a garboard drain and through the transom (Green) provides the transom less than adequate protection.
A pipe nipple which extends from inside the bilge through the transom and threads into a cap or flange mounted against the exterior transom wall affords no greater protection to the transom than a garboard drain assembly. This is particularly true in the case of prior art, where the manner of threading and the threading itself, existing between the exterior threaded cap or flange and the threaded end of the pipe nipple (DePersia), are inadequate to prevent seawater from leaching into the interior structure of the transom
The present invention overcomes these design deficiencies and defects by incorporating a specialized one-piece full port through-transom fitting having a threaded pipe that extends from its flanged end, mounted against the exterior transom wall, all the way through the transom""s bilge drain hole into the bilge. The full port through-transom fitting of this invention protects the structural integrity of the transom around the bilge drain hole in which it resides from both sides. Outside the vessel, the transom is protected by the underside of the fitting""s flanged end, which is cast with a sealing bead to which is applied a waterproof sealant. The sealant prevents the saturation of transom exposed by the bilge drain hole. In addition, the full port through-transom fitting requires no set screws to hold it in place; it is drawn against the exterior transom wall by a flanged locking nut which threads down on the fitting""s pipe inside the bilge. Inside the bilge, the transom is protected by three components threaded over the fitting""s pipe: a compressible washer followed by a metal washer and the flanged locking nut. The compressible washer is malleable and fills voids that may exist in the surface of the interior transom wall. Although the full port through-transom fitting is threaded into the bilge drain hole that is drilled out to accommodate it, the compressible washer affords the extra protection necessary to seal the interior transom wall around the bilge drain hole. The compressible washer is made of a non-reactive material capable of withstanding the substances encountered in a bilge or forward compartment of a vessel. The metal washer serves to protect the compressible washer in two different ways. First, it minimizes the compressible washer""s exposure to substances which may be present in bilge waters. Second, it prevents the compressible washer from twisting out of place or becoming frayed or tom when it is installed by pressing the compressible washer evenly against the interior transom wall as the flanged locking nut tightens down on both washers on the through-transom fitting""s pipe. This is something DePersia failed to do when he constructed an O-ring lying between a pipe nipple protruding through the exterior transom wall and a threaded cap or flange, which is, in reality, nothing more than a flanged locking nut.
Another disadvantage of having a garboard drain assembly installed in a vessel""s transom concerns the solid plug that threads into the exterior face of the garboard drain outside the vessel. Following launch, the plug is submerged and cannot be reached unless someone gets into the water. It is a common occurrence for a boater to forget to thread in a plug before launch or to lose a plug after launch. However, it is often the case that when events overtake and a boater has every reason to get into the water to thread in or thread out a plug, that option is as dangerous as remaining in the vessel. An exterior plug also can be a formidable nuisance after launch, catching on lines, wood and other solid materials floating about, which can loosen the sparse threading or otherwise cause damage to the garboard drain plug.
The bilge drain assembly of this invention overcomes these disadvantages by permitting the threading of a solid threaded plug into the entry point of the full port through-transom fitting""s pipe inside the bilge. Threading and unthreading a solid threaded plug from the pipe""s entry point allows a boater to control the contents of a bilge from inside the vessel. In an alternate version of the bilge drain assembly, the full port through-transom fitting has two opposing ingress and egress portholes in its pipe wall. The portholes allow bilge waters and other substances to enter the unobstructed straight-through interior passageway of the fitting""s pipe aft of the solid threaded plug without unthreading the plug. In this version, the solid threaded plug can be back-threaded by manual operation or by remote actuation to unseal the opposing ingress and egress portholes. In both versions of the present invention, with or without portholes, no ball valve (stopcock) is required to prevent seawater from entering the bilge or otherwise manage its content (Green); the solid threaded plug creates the watertight seal required when properly threaded into the entry point of the through-transom fitting.
The bilge drain assembly of this invention is distinguishable from the prior art in another aspect of its specialization. The full port through-transom fitting""s pipe is threaded internally and externally to permit the threading in of hose barb to male plug adapters into one and both ends of the fitting. This configuration permits a boater or another operator to use the bilge drain assembly of this invention as a conduit for controlling bilge waters and other substances which ultimately collect in a bilge, and those that typically don""t, such as engine room spills and overflows, in a way that is useful and new. When the full port through-transom fitting is coupled with hose barb to male plug adapters at each end, the bilge management and control system of this invention enables almost any boater or other operator to comply with federal, state and local environmental regulations governing unlawful discharges with minimal effort and expense. The Refuse Act of 1899 prohibits throwing, discharging or depositing any refuse matter of any kind (including trash, garbage, oil and other liquid pollutants) into the waters of the United States. 33 U.S.C. 407. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act prohibits the discharge of oil or oily waste upon or into any navigable waters of the United States. The prohibition includes any discharge which causes a film or discoloration of the surface of the water or causes a sludge or emulsion beneath the surface of the water. Violators are subject to civil and/or criminal sanctions including fines and imprisonment. (79 Stat. 903) as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
Extraction of the kinds of pollutants contemplated by these environmental regulations, such as fuel, oils and solvents, is managed by attaching hosing or tubing to the hose barb ends of the hose barb to male plug adapters which are threaded into the entry point and exit terminus of the full port through-transom fitting. A bilge and/or a forward compartment of a vessel may be drained of its liquid contents by siphoning or pumping them through the components of the bilge drain assembly of this invention into a barrel, tank or any other receptacle. The advantages to doing this are obvious. First, a boater or another operator can by-pass the bilge pump(s) that otherwise would have to be employed to evacuate these hazardous substances. Second, remote extraction allows the above-described operations to conform to O.S.H.A. standards intended to reduce worker exposure to hazardous and toxic chemicals. Third, the bilge management and control system of this invention creates an incentive for a boater to demonstrate responsible stewardship over the environment in the preservation of water quality by allowing him/her to control the time, place and manner of extraction, with the result that the boater, another operator or a waste hauler could be engaged to extract and/or remove the hazardous contents of a bilge or forward compartment when a vessel is dry docked for routine maintenance, repair or storage. This is every reason why a vessel that has a bilge drain hole should be retro-fitted with the bilge management and control system of this invention and it is every reason why a vessel that has no bilge drain hole in its transom should have one.
The bilge management and control system of this invention employs a full port through-transom fitting located near the lowest point of the interior of a vessel and ending in a flange mounted against the exterior transom wall, with the means for sealing the interior area of the transom from both sides, with hose barb to male plug adapters (or garden hose adapters) and/or solid threaded plugs threaded into one or both ends of the threaded through-transom pipe, at the entry point and at the exit terminus. The hose barb to male plug adapters provide a contiguous unobstructed straight-through interior passageway by which to extend the efficacy of the full port through-transom fitting in both directions: beyond its exit terminus by means of flexible tubing or hoses into a receptacle and beyond the bilge by means of flexible tubing or hoses into a vessel""s forward compartments. Solid threaded plugs achieve a watertight seal when threaded into the hose barb end of the hose barb to male plug adapters at each end of the full port through-transom fitting or directly into the entry point or exit terminus of the full port through-transom fitting.
The function of this invention is to permit a vessel operator to control the contents of the bilge and/or the forward compartments of a vessel primarily from inside the vessel. This invention is designed to prevent seawater or other substances from entering a bilge, to retain and control substances within a bilge and/or the forward compartments of a vessel, to introduce substances into a bilge and/or the forward compartments of a vessel, and to direct the flow of substances out of a bilge and/or the forward compartments of a vessel, by gravity flow, differential pressure or other mechanical means, thus achieving ultimate management and control over the contents of a bilge and/or the forward compartments of a vessel. In addition, the full port through-transom fitting of this invention protects the structural integrity of the transom in which it resides from both sides.